The group Maa Durga Self Help Group (SHG) has 13 members who are all from the same neighbourhood. The lady wearing a light blue saree standing in left side of photograph is Mata who is the leader of the group. Mata is a 38-year-old woman married to a fisherman of Balugaon village in Odisha, India. The couple has a son who is in school. Mata lives with her son and together with her husband takes care of all the household expenses. She helps her husband in selling the fish. Her husband goes to the lake every morning for fishing and she sells those fish in the market as fresh fish and keeps some of them for drying. (Drying the fish is a way of preserving the fish for future use. It is done by drying them in the sun until water is completely evaporated.) Demand for dry as well as fresh fish is very high in the region.

All other members of this group are also engaged in selling fresh and dry fish in the market. In order to strengthen the business and respond to client demand, Mata together with her group Maa Durga SHG has requested for a loan amount of 260,000 INR for purchasing a storage box for fish and a fishing net. Their goal is to increase their business activity.

Additional Information

Important note about this loan

Due to Indian government regulations, if you fund this loan, you will not be repaid for at least 3 years. This borrower will likely repay your loan much sooner than that, in which case, the Field Partner may re-loan your funds to help other local borrowers. We want you to be aware of this minimum 3-year waiting period and the associated risks before making a loan to Indian borrowers on Kiva. Learn More >

About People's Forum

People’s Forum is a development organization based in Odisha, India that provides affordable loan products and support services to women. The organization distinguishes itself by reaching out to particularly marginalized groups, including leprosy-affected families, widows, single mothers, and disabled persons. People’s Forum will harness Kiva’s flexible, zero-interest capital to serve even more borrowers in one of the poorest regions of India.

This is a Group Loan

In a group loan, each member of the group receives an individual loan but is part of a larger group of individuals. The group is there to provide support to the members and to provide a system of peer pressure, but groups may or may not be formally bound by a group guarantee. In cases where there is a group guarantee, members of the group are responsible for paying back the loans of their fellow group members in the case of delinquency or default.

Kiva's Field Partners typically feature one borrower from a group. The loan description, sector, and other attributes for a group loan profile are determined by the featured borrower's loan. The other members of the group are not required to use their loans for the same purpose.